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Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Last Recruit? I am on board

Usual spoiler alert for Lost

[Note: I didn't see any teaser after tonight's show--Canadian feed ate it, I think]
Well, they were not kidding tonight. The show started quickly and then just accelerated throughout. So many things happened, so many questions. And the funny thing is that it all made sense and brought lots of stuff together. Only one new mystery really--why did Widmore betray Sawyer? Just like the scorpion (even a giant one, Mrs. Spew), his nature is to betray. But more on that later.

The show remains a mix of love and hate, sap and sadism. Lots of great lines and interesting conversations with our favorite pairings: Jack and Flocke; Sawyer and Kate; Jack and Sawyer; Sayid and Desmond; Sayid and Flocke; Claire and Kate; and finally Sun and Jin.

So, the show starts with Jack and Flocke conversing, and Jack actually asks questions and actually gets answers--although we may not believe FLocke about his rule as dad-imitator. I think I do--that Flocke/MIB/Smokey has been playing a long con. We need to go back think about all the folks that Smokey killed and consider the logic of each death and whether it fits into the scheme of things--can Smokey as Smokey kill candidates, as he did kill Eko. Or not? More info on the rules would be handy, please.

Anyhow, then brother and sister unite in both timelines, but let's focus on the Island now and LA later--I am not so good at switching back and forth as the Lost folks are. How did Claire know? Did Smokey tell her? Surprised not to see a hug. And somewhat surprised that only after a little due diligence, Jack is willing to abandon his sister.
And Claire does bring the killer quote: "Whether you like it or not, you're with him now." Chilling. And does that mean that the rest of the crew is tied to FLocke even after fleeing?

Hurley once again brings the audience's perspective--we can bring Claire back, just like Anakin. Yet Sawyer is clearly right and cold-blooded about it--he trusts only a few and sees his mission as just the original survivors minus Claire and Sayid. And he has no thought of Miles, who was his second in Dharmaville. And yes, I am sure that Richard, Ben and Miles will be seen again. It is striking that Sawyer is willing to include Jack, given his recent hate due to Jack's role in Juliet's death--only a few days ago. But, well, more on that below.
oh and Hurley's line of the night: "People trying to kill us again."

Next big line of the night: "So nice to have everyone back together again." We knew it would not last, but it didn't even last until the end of this show.

Zoe shows up and demonstrates that Widmore has artillery. Literally. A heavy gun on the Hydra Island. That Sub has a big cargo bay, I guess. And the strange thing is that Zoe and Widmore can find Flocke and friends wherever they go--hitting them when they want, as they show here and then again at the end. What technology do they have that allows that, other than the writers of the show? Plot holes much? Too much fun to quibble.

FLocke then rallies, like Widmore, indicating that he had hoped things would take more time. Are these lines aimed at us, the impatient watchers (that would be you, Jacob L.)?

Sawyer quickly launches his plan--and not a bad one since he didn't know about the boat until just then. But he was ready, found the guy he needed to get the others on board: Jack, not Hurley. Sawyer has not caught on to the changes in both or perhaps again knows them too well?

Meanwhile, Desmond is successfully turning Sayid away from the dark side, after making him realize that his love would not approve of these methods, just as she was not happy about his methods back in Iraq or in LA. So, does this make Desmond Luke and Sayid Darth Vader? Well, Anakin became Darth Vader in large part due to the death of his love and the need to gain power to try to prevent it. But that would make Des Sayid's kid. So, enough with the Star Wars references (blame Hurley, not me). Clearly, Desmond is alive, and Sayid is lying to Flocke, confirming one thing--that Smokey can only read minds in Smoke form and not in Locke's form (strike me down and I will be more powerful than you can imagine).
And again, another well-written bunch of dialogue for Desmond--there can be only one Scotsman here.

As Sawyer and Kate find the boat, he tells her of the plan, including leaving Claire behind. This decision and then the next one--to reverse it--will pose some big problems and may have already. Having Claire arrive with the rest might have influenced Widmore, but he was probably going to betray Sawyer anyway.

As Frank, Sun, the quickster Hurley and Jack run, Frank does remind them "Smokey moves faster than we do." Ooo, foreshadowing that didn't pay off, but scary. I was tense for much of the time, even when the boat seemed like smooth sailing.
Claire: "He's going to be mad." But Kate buys Claire's peace for now. But Sawyer is right--she is crazy and is likely to become trouble soon enough.

Jack and Sawyer have one last confrontation, once again Sawyer being pretty reasonable. But Jack, who feels tied to the Island and does not want to leave (if he does, does that undo his wonderful alt-reality?), is willing to jump ship. Just a great scene among many tonight.

Ashore, finally, Sun and Jin come together, with long wait paying off. She can now speak English again, because English is the language of love??? I would think that if this were, ahem, realistic, her first words would be in Korean since Jin is .... Korean. Oh well, the moment still rocked. And yes, they did play with our minds one more time--having them meet at the sonic fence. I feared a serious bug-zapping there.
"We will never be apart again." JINX

Widmore betrays Sawyer. Well, duh. Neither made anything like a sincere commitment, and it is only surprising that Sawyer is surprised. Widmore needed Jin? Not sure why, but clearly the others are expendable. Or at least, need to be contained rather than assured. Methinks that this is where Richard, Miles and Ben will come in--freeing the folks we like and blowing up the plane. Their deliberate omission will not fool us into forgetting about them. Those are important chess pieces on the board--the Island and the Lost creators are not done with them.

Back on the Island, Flocke moves quickly to save one person--Jack, of course. He needs him alive, for now anyway.

Ok, back to LA:

The story in LA is one of quickly a gathering of the various players: Sun, Jin, Locke and Jack are all in the hospital, Sawyer and Sayid (and Miles) will soon be at the station with Kate. And Desmond brought Claire to Ilana and through her to Jack. So, lots of folks making connections in LA.

Sun clearly recognizes Locke, so her gunshot did the trick, so to speak. Pretty sure Desmond did have the required effect on Locke as well.

The Sawyer/Kate conversation was terrific--reminded us of the past--their cage loving and their sparring before and since. Kate has Sawyer's number--didn't want to get caught coming back from LA. So, that is one question we have answered.

Desmond is a serious stalker. I am surprised that Claire did not run for it, but her past experience with dicey adoptions might have made his appeals more attractive. The guy has amazing timing--and he just came from where? From running over Locke, since Jack is soon called away? Or did he arrange this meet and then go, as enough time may have elapsed while waiting for Jack (and son) to show up at the lawyer's office. I was wondering which character was going to come back--and Ilana came back very quickly from her explosive departure last week. But the meeting here, like on the Island, is cut short. Perhaps this season could have moved quicker earlier so that we could have more time with these reunions now. On the other hand, jsut the reunions themselves have punch--they don't need to be played out too much, I guess.

Sayid gets caught easily. How they determine where he is staying is not clear, but another plot hole that is not so important.

Claire meets Jack at the will reading where Ilana says "Do you believe in fate?" Well, Ilana is fated to be blown to pieces. Claire is fated to have very short conversations with bro.

Sun's baby is ok, so perhaps Sun and Jin can have a happy life in LA. That is, if they can escape her father. Perhaps the scare of almost getting her killed would quell him, but I doubt it.

And, of course, Jack is operating on Locke, as the most predictable part of this season.

So, what can we think of this? First, two categories: Answers and Questions

Answers:

Christian was Smokey. And since he hung out at the shack, this means that the shack was his home until someone (who????) broke the circle of ash. Okay, so we have another question that will not be answered.

Widmore is a dirtbag. We have confirmation yet again. Also, shows that scholars of International Relations are correct to be skeptical of agreements made in the absence of some kind of enforcement mechanism.

Sayid can be turned back to the light side. And Desmond is alive somewhere. He is another wildcard that will play a big role in the last few episodes in both places. On the Island, can he wield his electromagnetic powers a la Polaris (daughter of Magneto in the X-Men comic books--take that Doc Jensen, two can play the uber-geek game here)? Or are his powers just about reality/time shifting?

Sawyer thinks of Frank the pilot as an extra in a Burt Reynolds movie. Good to know.

Questions:

Are Cindy and the kids alive? Did they survive the artillery? Or are they now among the dead red-shirts, lasting so long but not long enough?

Is Sayid alive? I would figure this one soldier would best figure out how to dig quickly to get out of the worst of the artillery.

What is in Jack's backpack?

Who is Jack's ex? Same as the old one? Julie Bowen?

When do we get to see Juliet with Sawyer in LA?

Predictions [Again, I didn't see the teaser]:

Our delta force of Richard, Ben, and Miles do more to complicate Widmore's plans than anyone else.

Sayid sacrifices himself somewhere along the way to redeem himself finally. Perhaps he throws Flocke down a well a la Darth and the Emperor. The electromagnetism of these wells might contain Smokey better than dead Jacob ashes.

Speaking of which, Hurley has those ashes unless he gave them to Jack. Invoking Kathy Saideman's rule #1 of fiction--if you are shown something earlier, in a story it will come back later when it is relevant. So, the bag of Jacob's ashes are going to be relevant, or else Ilana died in vain.

Lots of people are going to die.

I think Jin has to die as he jinxed himself. Or living requires them both to stay on the Island but separated from their child? No, Jin dies.

Richard dies as the Island will finally be through with him, but he seek his death, as immortality is not what it is cut out to be.

Miles lives, as his ghost-talking/comic relief skills make him Hurley's natural partner.

Hurley lives because he must. You cannot kill the dog. And Hurley is our dog, our Chewbacca (and yes, Chewie was killed in the lamentable Star Wars series of books that utterly reeked--cursed by the death of Chewie).

Jack is the winning Candidate, I think, to replace Jacob.

Kate lives, Claire dies. Sawyer may yet sacrifice himself as his love is dead.

And the one thing we have learned about the Lost creators is that they are romantics. Soulmates live, those without can die. Which means that unless Ben finds love quickly, he dies, too.

1 comment:

Wendy W
said...

You give Doc Jensen a run for his money! Great observations and sadly I have little to add (tired, and still lost despite all the answers we got tonight). We've got to be getting to the Juliet/Sawyer coffee date soon, that's for sure.

One thought I keep coming back to is that each character on Island time is going to realize the sideways world exists (it can't just be the other way around, dammit!) and will have to make a choice whether to live that life or keep the one they have. Though if it's true that helping Smoky actually means everyone dies, then this theory completely fails ...

Stephen M. Saideman

Intro

Greetings! I am a political scientist, specializing in International Relations, my research and teaching focus on ethnic conflict and civil-military relations. I watch way too much TV, and I like movies as well so I tend to write about both and find IR stuff in pop culture. I rant alot about American politics and sometimes about Canadian politics. I like to take ideas I once learned a long time ago and apply them to whatever strikes my fancy.